Without_Pause

The speed of it really. I have two AoEs which I can chain. I kind of might look at what impact losing Hasten would bring to the build although I only gain a slot for doing so, and I would need a one slot wonder to replace it. The Crit proc is perfect for Claws with it going in FU.

I've only done one from the ground up, but I'm happy with it so far. I can assume more so when everything gets T4ed and I get the last accolade. FA means end use is higher than I want, but that's getting taken care of via Incarnates. I tried a Ice/stone Stalker, but got within a couple powers to slot when I saw it wasn't good enough. I might go back and reconfigure to see if I can get it to work. I'm leveling various other builds I will try to find final versions of their builds at some point.

There's multiple guides on the subject in the Guides forum.

In a minorly interesting aspect, Rad can be more end friendly since you can use a Theft of Essence proc in the heal. I have taken EA to 50 twice, but not on Brute. My Savage/rad Brute is 23 so not much of a comment on it so far nor have I worked out any sort of build. I would say it is following the pace of other Resist based Brutes as I have in that they can be clicky for their mitigation, but we are talking /fire and /bio. For EA, I still try to get end covered to reduce using ED. The cast time is a bit long. I recommend Ageless Radial for the additional DDR and Melee Core maybe? The one with the added Resist. Savage/ea won't really need more recharge, but the added end is nice and the DDR is absolutely needed if you plan on soloing x8 mobs. The Psi hole is absolutely real on a EA build.

Alpha, Destiny, and Hybrid are the ones I care about. Interface is a bit of whatever. Lore and Judgement are just meh to ugh. I do agree that adding in more of the system would require a lot of work even for a full paid staff. It essentially becomes impossible once the originators of a system aren't around to lead in further developing the system.

In melee combat?

Do superheroes and villains have 3 second animations as part of their attack chain? How about 2.5? You don't think Batman, Hulk, or Deathstroke can't figure that out? Gee, they keep jumping up in the air and having their hands above there heads. What to do. What. to. do.

I only have 4 characters who are below level 20. I am only keeping 1-2 anyway. While I have my own "inactive" list for builds I'm backlogging, none have been there even one year. The only way I can see having a character not logged in for that long is if I essentially retire the build at level 50. Even on live, I don't recall losing a name due to being inactive. The build will be played or deleted.

Tar Patch is fine. I agree on DN. RI from Rad animates too slow for the current meta as well.

Not said yet, but Staff needs a good look over. It feels like the set was given overly good combo benefits(Resist) in place for piss poor DPA. Psionic Melee as previously mentioned. Making Hemo worth taking on Savage. A touch up to Mind control wouldn't hurt. We can all admit TK sucks and isn't really mind control. Claws for Stalkers. I can't begin to imagine the rationale for no Spin and Eviscerate being ST. I can't think of another double whammy to a set's AoE for a Stalker to fit in AS. Compare Elec having loads of AoE and losing a control for AS but Claws gets two AoEs removed. The whole point of Eviscerate's animation is it a heavier hitter cast time wise but a cone. Regen needs bare bone debuff resistance to regen, end, and recharge as a starting place for a fix. Sents. Not dropping a full bomb on the AT but yeah. Numerous end cost balance issues. There certainly are cases where one can find unexplainable end cost for a power considering the standard for even that same power used in a different situation, see Spin for Widows. I think there is one for a Dom epic as well I seem to remember someone pointing to. EDIT: Adding Kin Melee. I keep rolling it and being reminded why it never sticks.

They aren't using Bio.

8 Defenders on a team is what I call Free XP Day.

I'm surprised known superheroes haven't had their names blocked from being used. Someone yesterday was running around using a known character from DC.

Sonic blast has a cone KB power and it would fit in with Claws having Shockwave. I think a PBAoE -res toggle might be interesting instead of a damage aura. I don't see how you proc it out or even really add sets to it, so it's benefit is contained. You could do a ST attack with a disorient as well. Finding 7 attacks + BU and Taunt would be easy.

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure on it. I know there is a limit though. Regardless, I tend to pick Degenerative anyway.

I think it and Degenerative were deemed the best for DPS, but it depends on the melee set. I believe the higher DPA sets worked better with Reactive as where DPS sets played better with Degenerative. Degenerative also gets picked more often so it will likely used more often on a team, and the debuff doesn't stack(to my knowledge) so picking something else isn't bad if you team a lot. I personally default to Degenerative these days although I do like faster playing sets, but I might additionally pick up something else for team situations.

Based on what's in the game already, it would be one of the easiest things to port. I would be down for it since there is no reason why the set can't have sub 2 sec cast times or close to it(see Kat), the damage wouldn't be leathal(see Kat and Claws for fast playing sets), and if there is an attack or two doing ranged damage, then it would at least make sense(see Claws). The damage would be more ST based and likely lower since it would also have -res. Add in some control aspect and really, it would be difficult to make it a bad set.

Essentially a copy/paste from notes I have on a Claws/ea Scrapper. Posting here because I have a StJ/ea Stalker and at the time I just copied Croax's build. Having played around with both having some Incarnates filled in, the below is my leaning for EA. Alpha: Musculature Core. Maybe Cardiac if you want to avoid using ED, but I would just rather have things dead. Destiny: Ageless Radial. For two reasons. Def debuffs are absolutely a thing which can screw over this build. I did a mission at +2/x8 and sometimes I wondered if I had any Def debuff resistance. Once Ageless was added in, things got more sane. I still really like EA, but the lack of Def debuff resistance is telling. Just try low level soloing x8 mobs. I did that in a level 14 Flashback. Never again. x8 against mobs without Def debuffs has been fine so x8 isn't the issue. Note, low level x8 once the build is done. The added end makes using ED less often. ED has a longer animation so that also means less time killing. The added Recharge is more "nice to have" than required. Barrier and Rebirth are talking points, but Ageless seems to cover more for what I want. Hybrid: Melee Core. Regen, added Resistance which is a bigger benefit than 1.5% Def since that can be soft capped, and resistance to annoying status effects which prop up in end game plays. Assault was absolutely in play, but the more I looked into things, I switched. Interface: Degenerative, I know there are others, and it can be deemed pointless on a team if someone else has it as well. I can see having a second option for teams which might more likely be useful. Judgement: Ionic or Void. For sheer damage or the added debuff. I tend to go "for that character." Lore: Whatever. I tend to use what looks correct for that character versus min/max reasons. I would look for +dmg, heal, -resist, -regen and go from there. I prefer Radial to keep the support around.

With Rad winning out, I suspect faster times from Fire/rad and Ill/rad. Cold should give a run for top spot as well.

Defenders, Corrs, and Blasters are in the running. One might think Blasters would be bad, but once they get mitigation down, things simply don't live. You would have multiple nukes ready per spawn. Add in Beam and /psy and even harder targets don't live. For Defenders and Corrs, give me Cold, Thermal, Kin, and fill in the rest with debuffs. Time can tank and Storm could do so with the ability to position groups as well. If something does -res, then add them in. Pretty much as along as the group doesn't have two FFs in it, any combo of 8 works.

I don't think the advice changes, and Kin would absolutely work even if I might pick something else. Elec has a heal and end recovery so giving it more of that isn't as needed as other things.

Only issue I saw(obviously can't see DMs, I don't really visit the Discord) was the fact that some of their builds made questionable choices at best. If you offer to make builds for people and then fail to make a build understanding the basics of what makes that build, then yes, people are going to take issue with it.

Played my EA Scrapper last night who has Melee for Hybrid, and Terrorized felt more annoying than anything I had to 100% protect against. I was on a team running +4 missions. I was taking alpha strike or going off and soloing mobs to the point I assumed we didn't have a tank only to see we had one who had more vet levels than I did. Zero deaths on my part.

I would do something with Beam or Sonic due to Tanks having lower damage and TW being smashing damage on top of that. You want to find ways to to take on harder targets and get through them quicker. In all honestly, Tanks need little support. What they need is a way to boost their damage. /cold, /time, or /kin would be great. /cold for the debuffs and shields. /time and /kin offer recharge which TW will want.

I don't sweat proc rates too much. I added it in since I wanted the 6-slot bonus as well. I partly slot it in FU since everything else is going to hit harder. It goes off a lot. I have seen it proc at least twice in a row and that's after two other attacks. If things aren't resistant to lethal, Claws is an absolute murder machine on a Scrapper. I've taken it to 50 three times(one Brute). If I ever do it again, I want a damage aura just to see the numbers it can put out. Maybe Claws/stone if I can make it look good. I updated the Incarnates section as I have more plays with the build done.